St. Paul daily globe., 1887-07-08
MAKING MONEY.
President Cleveland SsTfng $685.
900 a Year--His IncoH and Ex-
penses.

900 a Year--His IncoIs and Ex-
penses.
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
Previous to the second term of Gen.
Grant the salary of the president of the
United States. from Washington down
to that time, had been $1,000 a year,
with limited fund for contingent ex-
penses, which did not exceed 81 900 per
annum during Mr.. Lincolns term. In
1878 it was raised to $4,000 a wear.
This increased salary was appropriated
with the expectation that it would be
applied to public purposes in eonnec-
ton with the presidency, and not for the
private pocket of the incumbent.
All the presidents. with rare eXcep-
tions, have accepted this construction of
the law, and they have almost uniformly
used the salary. in offering the hospi-
tality of the White house to senators
and representatives, the judiciary, the
diplomatic body and distinguished
strangers who were entitled to such
recognition. This has been the cenven-
tiOnal rule, and any exception to it has
justly provoked comment. Mr.. Cleve-
land may be described as professional
advocate of retrenchment and reform.
This subject is the burden of his
speeches, of his political essays in the
form of frequent letters to conspicuous
MugWumpS and others. He receives
$4,000 in salary and $1,000 regularly for
contingent expenses of the executive
Office. In addition thereto to Congress
voted for the next ensuing fiscal year:
Private secretary, So, ,250; assistant sec
retary, S2,250; three executive clerks at
$1,000 each; two clerks of Glass at
81, 800 each: one clerk of Glass 3, 81. 800;
one clerk of class 2. who shall be tele-
graph operator, at S1,400; steward at
S1,S00; one usher at 81, 400: four meSsen-
gers at 81, 200 each; five doorkeeperS at
$1,000 each; one watchman, 5000, and
one fireman, 1864.
The executive mansion and stables
are lighted, heated, repaired, furnished
with water and all other conyeniences.
and the greenhouses, which provide
flowers for decoration, are maintained
by annual appropriations, averaging
about $1,000 in round numbers. Then
comes another yearly item, as follows:
For care, repair and refurnishing the
executive mansion, $4,000. to be eX-
pended by contract or otherwise, as the
president may determine"
1t is thus seen that the president is
free from all outlay, except the actual
provision for his small household. The
question is naturally asked, How does
he dispose of the large income appro-
priated by congress? That inquiry may
be easily and positively answered, be-
cause the facts are notorious at Wash
ington.
Mr.. Cleveland has utterly diSregarded
the nearly uniform practice of his pre-
deceSsOrs by neglecting to invite mem
berS of congress to the executive table.
When the diplomatic corps were compuI
tOrily dined, a few members of the COM
mittee on foreign affairs were asked to
meet them. And when the nine ius-
ticeS of the supreme court were compuI-
SOrily dined, few members of the
judiciary were asked to meet them.
This is about all the hospitality, with
perhaps some individual exceptions,
the president has offered to congress,
and it is nearly the limit as to others.
This management has excited much
and deserved criticism, compared as it
is with the accustomed liberality of
former presidents.
He has not even recognized the costly
civilitieS extended to him by the
citizens of the District of Columbia
ON different occasions. The in
augurati0n ball cost about
$4,000, and was carried out on a scale
which surpassed all previous expe-
rience, and gave a new idea of Jeffer-
sOnian simplicity. The gentlemen who
voluntarily planned and managed that
magnificent compliment, and devoted to
its success their labor for months, their
money and their influence, both socially
as well as politically, including con-
spicuouS Republicans and Democrats,
have been entirely ignored. Not one of
them have ever been invited to dine at
the White house.
The so-ealled receptions of the PreSi-
dent and Mrs. Cleveland do not cost a
dime to their private purse. The lights,
the flowers, the music, the servants and
the decorations are all at the expense Of
the people in the shape of appr0pria-
tiOns, which are scattered through va
riouS accounts of congress, and are but
little known to the public at large. The
guests on these occasions are divided
into classes, some of the receptions
being by card, and others with open
doors for the unwashed Democracy, who
are not offered even glass of water.
Mr. Cleveland'S Interpretation of "re-
trenchment and reform is to make hay
while the sun shines, and to swell his
bank account by large savings from the
salary of the president. The best in
formed persons who have had expert
ence in and knowledge of the expendi-
lures in the White house, estimate the
presidents outlay for all purposes as
not exceeding $4,000 per annum. This
is the known sum he sets aside for liv-
ing. His donations are all reported,
and they speak for themselves.
At the close of his term Oh the 4th of
March, 1889, Mr.. Cleveland will prOba-
bly, be richer by much more than $780,
600, without reckoning interest on his
accumulations OF accounting the as
sessed value of his country venture,
than when he entered the White house.
In plain and true terms, he has made
bonanza of the presidency, and givenn no
small share of his official career to